Google says, “Focus on the user and all else will follow.” (It’s part of the company’s philosophy.)
What they mean here is to give your user the best user experience possible through interactive, clean, and uncluttered design and relevant display of information.
Good UX is taking great care to serve the user.
And here are 15 websites and applications that give the users a good digital experience.
Check out our favorite user-centered design examples (with plenty of UX lessons and takeaways for each).
1. Razorpay
Razorpay is a local payment gateway application that helps thousands of businesses automate their payments, receive payments, and manage working capital without complex banking infrastructure.
Razorpay clocked in a whopping one billion financial transactions between April 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023 alone. That’s 2.7 million and odd financial transactions per day equating to nearly 100,000 transactions every hour.
The different payment options provided by Razorpay to complete a purchase transaction
Razorpay is a hit because of the following usability pros the tool exudes:
Payments are instant and secure
Payment methods can be customized as shown in the image below
Receive payments directly through invoices
Manage all the links, pages, customers, transactions, reports, members, and much more from a single dashboard. This saves the user a ton of time and makes working with Razorpay ultra-fast, unlike other payment gateway services that have a complex UI
Every transaction’s notification method can be customized as email or sms or both. This is a major pro for small and medium businesses
Setup and website integration are super easy and instant as well. Seamless and instant integration makes it up and ready for business in no time.
Most of their customers have switched from other payment platforms like 2Checkout, PayU, Pi, Cashfree etc.
"The best part of using Razorpay is the ease of usage and the deep understanding that the organization brings in with their on-the-toes CRM team." - Capterra Review
“The API integration is almost seamless, using it with Wix with just a few clicks we were able to run it up on our website- The daily and monthly reports are great for insights as it properly shows your sales figures .” - Capterra Review
2. Maze
One of the cleanest websites with clutter-free designs is Maze. The value prop statement is bold and displayed first to grab the attention of the visitor without wasting any time.
Value proposition screen on the Maze website
The above-the-fold screen focuses on Google’s first principles - providing the readers with:
A clear understanding of the website’s purpose
Clear value proposition
Intuitive navigation to help them access the right information at the right pace at the right time without scouring the pages
Engaging visuals below the fold makes the reader know more about them and that’s the whole purpose
Responsive design: The page loads perfectly on any device, web or mobile without displacing UI elements or objects
Prominent and visually distinguishable call-to-action buttons encourage the readers to take the desired action immediately upon finding out their value proposition
My only gripe with their homepage is that they didn’t display their amazing list of clientele before the attractive visuals to gain the trust of their audience sooner. Instead, they let the visuals take their own sweet time to scroll before they display that they serve big giant clients like Vanguard, Uber, and VMWare.
Moving the client logos before the visuals would have made more sense
3. Marker.io
Example of a clean and helpful web page design
Marker.io’s website is one of the epitomes of clean user-centered design interfaces. They are a live website feedback collection tool that helps companies like The Washington Post and Vimeo speed up their QA testing processes by finding bugs faster.
Their homepage makes it incredibly easy for the reader to understand the benefits of the tool. The visuals next to the copy complement their messaging perfectly to enhance the effect of the copy – which is a win-win.
4. Usersnap
The way Usersnap makes use of different user interface layouts and elements to give a fantastic user experience is worth mentioning. For example, they make use of a timeline UI layout to show the chronological order of steps to solve data feedback challenges.
How Usersnap used timeline UI layout to explain their process
5. Plane
Plane is a payroll and HR system for startups and SMBs. Their clean and simple UI makes it one of my favorite cloud SaaS applications. Here’s why:
Minimalistic design with clear visual cues steers the users to optimal interaction without getting lost in the digital system
Consistent layout and clear typography with simple, legible fonts and ample spacing give the user an easy feel. This prevents confusion and gives the digital space a logical flow
The navigation is direct and streamlined without too many options. This keeps user interaction intuitive by helping users to find their way out without getting puzzled in the middle of an action
Thoughtful use of a color palette gives loads of breathing space and they enhance important elements by strategically highlighting them
Distinctive buttons and access controls make it easy for the user to find the most frequently used actions
A good example of a clean, human-centered design
6. Balsamiq: Simple and easy-to-use UI
An example of a simple and effective user experience design
Balsamiq is known for its simplified UI bundled with endless options to create clean wireframes quickly. It’s up to the point with no unnecessary distractions. Product managers love Balsamiq as they can design prototypes in minutes as opposed to large cycles of iterations. This tool has an ease of use rating of 4.5 stars on GetApp which says that the tool makes the job of the user incredibly easy. The best part about Balsamiq is that it delivers more than it promises.
It makes bringing ideas to life easier by providing drag-and-drop options to create mockups.
“It has ready-to-use components for different form factors so you don't need to draw/create anything from scratch, just drag and drop. In case you need to run a quick paper prototype usability test, just print your screens and you are good to go.” - Ashish V
7. Duolingo
A list of user-centered design examples is incomplete without mentioning Duolingo, probably the only app that makes learning a new language fun and engaging.
Duolingo reported 72.6 million monthly active users. They also saw a steep 20% growth in 2023 compared to 2022. The app has a simple one-click UI that makes it super easy to use even with one hand. This makes user retention a breeze as it gets very easy to keep the users engaged and coming back.
The average ease-of-use rating for Duolingo on getapp.com is a full 5 stars.
PC Magazine named Duolingo as the Best Free Language-Learning App mainly due to its user-centered design.
The app has a very clear structure which makes it easy to navigate and progress. This makes the reader feel rewarded as they reach their goals quickly and also recognize the progress
The interface and design is clean and distraction-free
It’s user-friendly and entertaining at the same time
Every interaction with the app is a delightful experience as the messaging is balanced with humor and motivation
The app is designed on game theory and makes learning a fun experience for the users
They don’t clutter the app with frequent advertisements unlike other apps
Helpful messaging and the right design helps the user to manage the functions and perform their tasks easily
Duolingo shows a user’s milestones. This is an example of empathetic design.
8. Salesforce Sales Cloud
More than 17,600 users think that the ease of using the Salesforce Sales Cloud application is 80%. That’s a great rating for an app in such a crowded market with competitors like Hubspot and Zoho.
According to Salesforce users, the application is awesome because
It helps the user to build and grow a sales machine and helps keep track of leads exactly the way they need to
The user-centered Chatter function helps make quick connections with employees and colleagues across the company fast and effortless
The process, right from creating the forms to sending billing information, it’s seamless and almost easy
The cloud-based architecture of the application makes it easily accessible from anywhere and deployment is smooth as well
Their uncomplicated UI makes it easy to navigate and save valuable information
A fairly new user can easily learn and maneuver the system to customize the platform to their needs
Makes sales engagement and enablement a structured process
An intuitive Sales AI and analytics keeps the user informed and help them make the right business decisions
The tool can integrate many other systems and syncs with the main website to keep things in one place
9. ChatGPT
ChatGPT is a fairly new software that took the world by storm within days of launching. ChatGPT crossed 1 million users within 2.5 months.
Many ChatGPT alternative tools existed before its launch. However, primarily, they didn't take off due to speed, usability, and reliability issues like:
Providing wrong or outdated information from stale databases
Cooking up URLs just to produce an output for a query
Too many complicated features clubbed into the main UI confuse the user
The user would have to take multiple attempts to figure out how to achieve an intended task
On the other hand, ChatGPT came out as a winner because of its evidently clear user interface. The simple one-input field UI layout subconsciously forces the user to focus on the one task they ought to complete.
ChatGPT has an ease-of-use rating of 95% on G2 reviews because of how easy it is to chat with the AI tool. It got popular quickly because it’s faster than using Google.
ChatGPT’s ultra-simple UI makes for a fantastic example of human-centered-design
10. Box
Box is an excellent cloud storage + collaboration platform, who are also a client of ours.
Box has 14 million users from more than 140,000 active businesses using its products, which includes 92 percent of the Fortune 500 companies.
Box is a hit because:
It has a very simple, yet powerful interface that works perfectly across devices to manage large files and collaborate with colleagues globally.
It comes with a search function that works well. It allows the search to be filtered to find specific files faster
Collaboration and communication with multiple team members across the globe are simplified
It helps unify the flow of information and make the file-sharing process easier by allowing members to work on files simultaneously and automate different workflows
A user-friendly interface that makes it easy to manage and organize files, even for users with limited tech experience
Box’s UI displays the dashboard view
11. Apple iOS 16
The latest Apple iOS 16 is a brilliant enhancement of Apple’s operating system. When it comes to human-centered design, Apple takes the cake and tops the list because they know their customers really really well.
iOS 16 was released on September 12, 2022 (Latest 16.4.1 April 7, 2023) and its adoption rate is higher than iOS 15 because of the incredibly useful features and improvements to existing features like:
Being able to start screen recording using Apple’s voice assistant Siri. Siri will be able to start screen recording, you just need to say: “Hey Siri, start [or stop] screen recording.”
With the right user access control and permission settings, web apps saved to the Home screen will be able to receive live updates
The Podcasts app is updated and improved with features where the user will be able to filter the episodes based on podcast seasons which I think is pretty cool
A dedicated Home Screen widget called the Wallet app is available for tracking orders placed with Apple Pay. The user can also share order tracking options with others using the Share button. Order information and tracking details can be sent using Messages, email, and other applications
The new Freeform whiteboarding app is updated to allow easy collaboration with friends, family, and colleagues. The app can be used to share attachments like digital whiteboard sketches, notes, files, documents, photos, images, videos, audio clips, and links
Apple’s iOS 16 showing UCD
12. Bouhan Falligant law firm
Bouhan Falligant is a full-service law firm based out of Georgia. This website is one of the finest and classiest attorney websites out there. It’s minimalistic, up to the point, and exudes experience, credibility, and confidence through design and copy – And these are the prime qualities a client looks for in their attorney.
A law firm website designed with UCD principles
13. Zoom
Other than the offer, functionality, and speed, the easy usability of Zoom made it extremely popular amongst the laptop class before enterprise clients began adopting the tool after the Covid pandemic hit the world.
With nearly 13 million global users, Zoom is popular because it is:
Easy to schedule/join a meeting
You don’t need a login to access a meeting
The interface is fairly intuitive
Reliable and high-quality video and audio streaming allows users to experience clear and smooth meeting calls
It’s easy to share screens, change backgrounds, split into breakout rooms for group activities
The call recording button is prominently placed and is easy to access
It’s accessible on various platforms, including desktops, PCs, mobile devices, and web browsers. This cross-platform compatibility allows users to participate in meetings from anywhere in the world at any time
Zoom also integrates seamlessly with scheduling apps like Calendly, workflow apps, productivity tools, and communication tools like Slack, etc
14. Uber Eats
Delivering food to 66 million people worldwide, on time, while they’re still hungry – is a feat! And Uber Eats makes it possible.
If you look carefully at the screenshot below, there’s nothing unnecessary about the information displayed. Let’s map a quick user journey for a to-be-hungry user to get an insight into how well this app is designed.
A search bar to look for food, restaurants, cafes, groceries? Check
Prominently used search filters like restaurants, convenience, etc shown in the form of visual icons? Check
A filter button to conduct an advanced search? Check
Attractive display of food cards with the restaurant name, offers, pricing, average delivery time, delivery fees, customer rating, and a shortlist/favorite button
This makes the food ordering process a delightful experience for hungry customers. And this is a grand example of human-centered design technology.
The simple and useful UI design - Uber Eats app
15. SERanking
In a sea of complex SEO tools like SEMRush, Ahrefs, UberSuggest, and Google Analytics, SERanking has one of the cleanest user interfaces which makes extracting SEO data a breeze for SEO professionals.
SE Ranking has 800,000+ users worldwide, and over 300,000 users are from Europe alone.
What makes SERanking different from other SEO tools is:
Accessibility and a user-friendly interface: Even if you’re new to SEO or SEO tools, you can easily find your way around SERanking
The platform is designed with easy navigation panels, and a comprehensive, yet clear dashboard that displays the necessary KPIs and filters in a neat and helpful fashion without complicating the process
A fixed menu to the left helps the user access the most important tabs and switch between projects easily
It’s very easy to generate reports. Reports are sent to your email or you can download them with a click of a button
The most important and most frequently accessed functions such as Competitive Research, Backlink Analysis, Rank Tracker, and On-page SEO Analyzer are placed right at the top for easy and fast access
SERanking’s simple UI is a perfect example of user-centered design
Key takeaways
At the heart of it, the needs, goals, preferences, experiences, and challenges of the users are fundamental to human-centered design.
And we at Devsquad get user-centered design. We have assembled a team of product design experts who have delivered projects for tech giants like ADP, Box, Swell, etc.
If you’re looking for a highly-skilled team of product design experts, get in touch now.
